Operations and Clinical Assessment Core

University Of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The Operations and Clinical Assessment Core (OCAC) fulfills the required core described in the CIDAR[unreadable] Program Announcement (PA05-039). The OCAC will serve three major functions: 1) overall center[unreadable] administration; 2) subject recruitment and assessment; and 3) database management and statistical[unreadable] analysis. Consequently, the OCAC has been divided into three divisions corresponding with these major[unreadable] functions. Each division has a director specifically assigned to ensure that the goals and objectives for that[unreadable] division are met; these directors report to Dr. Strakowski, who will serve as OCAC director, in addition to his[unreadable] role as overall BITREC director. The Administrative Division will provide overall management of the BITREC;[unreadable] to achieve this goal it will be composed of the BITREC director, a Steering Committee, two external advisory[unreadable] committees and administrative personnel. Dr. Strakowski will direct this division, consistent with his roles as[unreadable] OCAC and BITREC director. The Clinical Assessment and Recruitment Division (CARD) of the OCAC will[unreadable] provide patient recruitment, informed consent and human subjects regulatory functions, and initial[unreadable] assessments. We have chosen to centralize these functions in order to integrate projects and to maintain[unreadable] consistent subject management and evaluations across projects. Dr. DelBello will direct the CARD. The[unreadable] Biostatistics Division (BD) is included in the OCAC as required by the CIDAR program announcement,[unreadable] although, given the central role of Biostatistics in this center, this division will, in many ways, function as a[unreadable] core. The Biostatistics Division will be a central resource used by all projects and cores. This division will[unreadable] provide expertise in the translation of clinical hypotheses into testable statistical hypotheses, selection of[unreadable] efficient study designs and measurement protocols, estimation of sample size requirements, acquisition and[unreadable] management of data, statistical analysis, and final report preparation. The Biostatistics Division will be codirected[unreadable] by Drs. Succop and Arndt. The divisions of the OCAC will provide organizing and integrating[unreadable] functions over all of the remaining cores and projects.